Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions: 1. What are the principal components of telecommunications networks and key networking technologies? 2. What are the main telecommunications transmission media and types of networks? 3. How do the Internet and Internet technology work, and how do they support communication and e-business? 4. What are the principal technologies and standards for wireless networking, communication, and Internet access? 5. Why are radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless sensor networks valuable for business? OPENING CASE Have You Ever been in a Virgin Megastore? The first and only Virgin Megastore in Canada opened in Vancouver on Robson Street in 1996 in a building that was previously a public library. The store was located on three levels and totalled 3716 square metres. This store was taken over by HMV in Although at the time Virgin closed its Vancouver Megastore, it planned to open one of its stores in Toronto, the company chose to exit the Canadian market altogether before doing so. Inside a Virgin Megastore, you will find racks and racks of CDs, DVDs, books, video games, and clothing, with videos playing on overhead screens. You can use Virgin Vault digital kiosks to preview music, videos, and games. You might also see a DJ sitting in a booth overlooking the sales floor and spinning the latest hits or tracks from undiscovered artists. Virgin Megastores are very media- and technology-intensive. These stores are a carefully orchestrated response to an intensely competitive environment because the company must compete with stores such as HMV as well as big box discount chains such as Walmart and online music download services. The business must be able to react instantly to sales trends and operate efficiently to keep prices down. A new CD or DVD release might achieve half of its total sales within the first couple of weeks after its release. Too much or too little of a CD in stores at a specific time can translate into large losses. Although Virgin Megastores inventory data warehouse based on Microsoft SQL Server database software provides upto-the-minute information on sales and current stock levels, acting on a rapidly changing picture of supply and demand requires human communication. In the United States, Virgin Megastores USA has 1400 employees in 11 retail locations. Its Los Angeles based home office shares information with the retail stores via voice mail, , and audio weekly conference calls, which are used to discuss upcoming promotions and events, product inventory issues, and current market trends. People shied away from conference calling because of its costs, choosing a less expensive but also less immediate way of communicating, such as sending out a mass message. However, recipients of that message might not respond right away. To speed up interaction, Virgin Megastores chose unified communications technology that integrated its voice mail, , conference calling, and instant messaging into a single solution that would be a natural and seamless way of working. In the fall of 2007, it deployed Microsoft s Office Communication Server, Office Communicator, and RoundTable 201

2 conferencing and collaboration tools. The technology has presence-awareness capabilities that display other people s availability and status (such as whether the person is already using the phone, in a Web conference, or working remotely) within the Microsoft productivity software they use in the course of their work. Users can see the people they work with in one window of Office Communicator and switch from one type of messaging to another as naturally and easily as picking up a telephone. Calls integrating audio and video are helping employees resolve issues more quickly. The company is saving more than $ annually in conferencing costs and now has in-house video and Web conferencing as well as audio conferencing. Sources: Marina Strauss, Virgin s Withdrawal Music to HMV s Ears, The Globe and Mail, June 29, 2005; HMV Group to Open Canada s Largest Dedicated Music, DVD Store, com/ media/ view. jsp?id=1007 (accessed April 24, 2009); Lauren McKay, All Talk, Customer Relationship Management Magazine, June 2008; John Edwards, How to Get the Most from Unified Communications, CIO, February 8, 2008; and Virgin Megastores USA Turns Up the Volume with Unified Communications, com (accessed June 19, 2008). Virgin Megastores experience illustrates some of the powerful new capabilities and opportunities provided by contemporary networking technology. The company used unified communications technology to provide managers and employees with integrated voice, , and conferencing capabilities, with the ability to switch seamlessly from one type of messaging to another. Using unified communications accelerated information sharing and decision making, enabling the company to manage its inventory more precisely. The chapter-opening diagram calls attention to important points raised by this case and this chapter. The retail music industry is exceptionally competitive and time-sensitive. To stay in the game, Virgin Megastores must be able to respond very rapidly to sales trends. The company s outdated networking and voice technology made it difficult to do this. Management decided that new technology could provide a solution and selected a new unified communications technology platform. Switching to unified communications technology saved time and facilitated information sharing between managers and employees and between retail outlets and corporate headquarters. With more up-to-date information, the company is able to respond more rapidly to sales trends and adjust inventory accordingly. These improvements save time and reduce inventory costs. Virgin Megastores had to make some changes in employee job functions and work flow to take advantage of the new technology. 202

3 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology Telecommunications and Networking in Today s Business World If you run or work in a business, you cannot do without networks. You need to communicate rapidly with your customers, suppliers, and employees. Until about 1990, you would have used the postal system or telephone system with voice or fax for business communication. Today, however, you and your employees use computers and , the Internet, cell phones, and mobile computers connected to wireless networks for this purpose. Networking and the Internet are now nearly synonymous with doing business. Networking and Communication Trends Firms in the past used two fundamentally different types of networks: telephone networks and computer networks. Telephone networks historically handled voice communication, and computer networks handled data traffic. Telephone networks were built by telephone companies throughout the 20th century using voice transmission technologies (hardware and software), and these companies almost always operated as regulated monopolies throughout the world. Computer networks were originally built by computer companies seeking to transmit data between computers in different locations. Thanks to continuing telecommunications deregulation and information technology innovation, telephone and computer networks are slowly converging into a single digital network using shared Internet-based standards and equipment. Telecommunications providers, such as Primus and Bell Canada (discussed in Chapter 5), today offer data transmission, Internet access, wireless telephone service, and television programming as well as voice service. Cable companies, such as Shaw and Rogers, now offer voice service and Internet access. Computer networks have expanded to include Internet telephone and limited video services. Increasingly, all of these voice, video, and data communications are based on Internet technology. Both voice and data communication networks have also become more powerful (faster), more portable (smaller and mobile), and less expensive. For instance, the typical Internet connection speed in 2000 was 56 kilobits per second, but today more than 81 percent of Canadian households have high-speed broadband connections provided by telephone and cable TV companies running at 1 million bits per second. The cost for this service has fallen exponentially, from 25 cents per kilobit in 2000 to less than 1 cent today. Broadband

4 204 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure Increasingly, voice and data communication as well as Internet access are taking place over broadband wireless platforms, such as cell phones, handheld digital devices, and PCs in wireless networks. In fact, mobile wireless broadband Internet access (2.5G and 3G cellular, which we describe in Section 7.4) was the fastest-growing form of Internet access in 2008, growing at a 96 percent compound annual growth rate. Fixed wireless broadband (Wi-Fi) is growing at a 28 percent compound annual growth rate, the second-fastestgrowing form of Internet access. Now that cellular phones can use Wi-Fi as well as cellular networks, use of Wi-Fi networks is growing at a faster-than-ever pace. Network interface card (NIC) Network operating system (NOS) What Is a Computer Network? If you had to connect the computers for two or more employees together in the same office, you would need a computer network. Exactly what is a network? In its simplest form, a network consists of two or more connected computers. Figure 7-1 illustrates the major hardware, software, and transmission components used in a simple network: a client computer and a dedicated server computer, network interfaces, a connection medium, network operating system software, and either a hub or a switch. Each computer on the network contains a network interface device called a network interface card (NIC). Most personal computers today have this card built into the motherboard. The connection medium for linking network components can be a telephone wire, coaxial cable, or radio signal in the case of cell phone and wireless localarea networks (Wi-Fi networks). The network operating system (NOS) routes and manages communications on the network and coordinates network resources. It can reside on every computer in the network, or it can reside primarily on a dedicated server computer for all the applications on the network. A server computer is a computer on a network that performs important network functions for client computers, such as serving up Web pages, storing data, and storing the network operating system (and hence controlling the network). Server soft- FIGURE 7-1 Components of a simple computer network. Illustrated here is a very simple computer network, consisting of computers, a network operating system residing on a dedicated server computer, cable (wiring) connecting the devices, network interface cards (NIC), switches, and a router.

5 ware, such as Microsoft Windows Server, Linux, and Novell NetWare, are the most widely used network operating systems. Most networks also contain a switch or a hub acting as a connection point between the computers. Hubs are very simple devices that connect network components, sending a packet of data to all other connected devices. A switch has more intelligence than a hub and can filter and forward data to a specified destination on the network. What if you want to communicate with another network, such as the Internet? You would need a router. A router is a special communications processor used to route packets of data through different networks, ensuring that the data sent gets to the correct address. Networks in Large Companies The network we have just described might be suitable for a small business. But what about large companies with many different locations and thousands of employees? As a firm grows and collects hundreds of small local area networks (LANs), these networks can be tied together into a corporate-wide networking infrastructure. The network infrastructure for a large corporation consists of a large number of these small localarea networks linked to other localarea networks and to firm-wide corporate networks. A number of powerful servers support a corporate Web site, a corporate intranet, and perhaps an extranet. Some of these servers link to other large computers supporting back-end systems. Figure 7-2 provides an illustration of these more complex, larger-scale corporate-wide networks. Here you can see that the corporate network infrastructure supports a mobile sales force using cell phones; mobile employees linking to the company Web site, or internal company networks using mobile wireless local area networks (Wi-Fi networks); and a videoconferencing system to support managers across the world. In addition to these computer networks, the firm s infrastructure usually includes a separate telephone network that handles most voice data. Many firms are dispensing with their traditional telephone networks and using Internet telephones that run on their existing data networks (described later). As you can see from Figure 7-2, a large corporate network infrastructure uses a wide variety of technologies everything from ordinary telephone service and corporate data networks to Internet service, wireless Internet, and wireless cell phones. One of the major problems facing corporations today is how to integrate all the different communication networks and channels into a coherent system that enables information to flow from one part of the corporation to another, from one system to another. As more and more communication networks become digital and based on Internet technologies, it will become easier to integrate them. Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 205 Key Digital Networking Technologies Contemporary digital networks and the Internet are based on three key technologies: client/ server computing, the use of packet switching, and the development of widely used communications standards (the most important of which is Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol, or TCP/ IP) for linking disparate networks and computers. Client/ Server Computing We introduced client/ server computing in Chapter 5. Client/ server computing is a distributed computing model in which some of the processing power is located within small, inexpensive client computers and resides literally on desktops, laptops, or in handheld devices. These powerful clients are linked to one another through a network that is controlled by a network server computer. The server sets the rules of communication for the network and provides every client with an address so others can find it on the network. Client/ server computing has largely replaced centralized mainframe computing in which nearly all of the processing takes place on a central large mainframe computer. Client/ server computing has extended computing to departments, workgroups, factory floors, and other parts of the business that could not be served by a centralized architecture. The Internet is the largest implementation of client/ server computing. Packet Switching Packet switching is a method of slicing digital messages into parcels called packets, sending the packets along different communication paths as they become Hubs Switch Router Packet switching

6 206 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure FIGURE 7-2 Corporate network infrastructure. Today s corporate network infrastructure is a collection of many different networks, from the public switched telephone network, to the Internet, to corporate local area networks linking workgroups, departments, or office floors. available, and then reassembling the packets once they arrive at their destinations (see Figure 7-3). Prior to the development of packet switching, computer networks used leased, dedicated telephone circuits to communicate with other computers in remote locations. In circuit-switched networks, such as the telephone system, a complete point-topoint circuit is assembled, and then communication can proceed. These dedicated circuitswitching techniques were expensive and wasted available communications capacity the circuit was maintained whether or not any data were being sent. Packet switching makes much more efficient use of the communications capacity of a network. In packet-switched networks, messages are first broken down into small, fixed bundles of data; these packets include information for directing each one to the right address and for FIGURE 7-3 Packed-switched networks and packet communications. Data are grouped into small packets, which are transmitted independently over various communications channels and reassembled at their final destination.

7 checking transmission errors along with the data. The packets are transmitted over various communications channels using routers, each packet travelling independently. Packets of data originating at one source are routed through many different paths and networks before being reassembled into the original message when they reach their destinations. TCP/ IP and Connectivity In a typical telecommunications network, diverse hardware and software components need to work together to transmit information. Different components in a network communicate with each other only by adhering to a common set of rules called protocols. A protocol is a set of rules and procedures governing transmission of information between two points in a network. In the past, many diverse proprietary and incompatible protocols often forced business firms to purchase computing and communications equipment from a single vendor. But today corporate networks are increasingly using a single, common, worldwide standard called Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/ IP). TCP/ IP was developed during the early 1970s to support U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) efforts to help scientists transmit data among different types of computers over long distances. TCP/ IP uses a suite of protocols, the main ones being TCP and IP. TCP refers to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which handles the movement of data between computers. TCP establishes a connection between the computers, sequences the transfer of packets, and acknowledges the packets sent. IP refers to the Internet Protocol (IP), which is responsible for the delivery of packets and includes the disassembling and reassembling of packets during transmission. Figure 7-4 illustrates the four-layered reference model for TCP/ IP. Starting from the sending computer, the four layers of the reference model are 1. Application layer. The application layer enables client application programs to access the other layers and defines the protocols that applications use to exchange data. One of these application protocols is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is used to transfer Web page files. 2. Transport layer. The transport layer is responsible for providing the application layer with communication and packet services. This layer includes TCP and other protocols. 3. Internet layer. The Internet layer is responsible for addressing, routing, and packaging data packets called IP datagrams. The Internet Protocol is one of the protocols used in this layer. 4. Network interface layer. At the bottom of the reference model, the network interface layer is responsible for placing packets on and receiving them from the network medium, which could be any networking technology. Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 207 Two computers using TCP/ IP are able to communicate even if they are based on different hardware and software platforms. Data sent from one computer to the other passes downward through all four layers, starting with the sending computer s application layer and Protocol Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/ IP) FIGURE 7-4 The Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/ IP) reference model. This figure illustrates the four layers of the TCP/ IP reference model for communications.

8 208 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure passing through the network interface layer. After the data reach the recipient host computer, they travel up the layers at the receiving computer and are reassembled into a format the receiving computer can use. If the receiving computer finds a damaged packet, it asks the sending computer to retransmit it. This process is repeated when the receiving computer responds. 7.2 Communications Networks and Transmission Media Let us look more closely at alternative networking technologies available to businesses. Signals: Digital versus Analog There are two ways to communicate a message in a network: either an analog signal or a digital signal. An analog signal is represented by a continuous waveform that passes through a communications medium; analog signals are used for voice communication. The most common analog devices are the typical wired telephone handset, the speaker on your computer, or your ipod earphone, all of which create analog wave forms that your ear can hear. A digital signal is a discrete, binary waveform, rather than a continuous waveform. Digital signals communicate information as strings of two discrete states: one bit and zero bits, which are represented as on off electrical pulses. Computers use digital signals, so if you want to use the analog telephone system to send digital data, you will need a device called a modem to translate digital signals into analog form (see Figure 7-5). Modem stands for modulator-demodulator. You actually need two modems, one to translate (modulate) from digital to analog, and at the receiving end, one to translate (demodulate) from analog back to digital. Types of Networks There are many different kinds of networks and ways of classifying them. One way of looking at networks is in terms of their geographic scope (see Table 7-1). Modem Local area network (LAN) Local Area Networks If you work in a business that uses networking, you are probably connecting to other employees and groups via a local area network. A local area network (LAN) is designed to connect personal computers and other digital devices within a halfmile or 500-metre radius. LANs typically connect a few computers in a small office, all the computers in one building, or all the computers in several buildings in close proximity. LANs can link to long-distance wide area networks (WANs, described later in this section) and other networks around the world using the Internet. Review Figure 7-1, which could serve as a model for a small LAN that might be used in an office. One computer is a dedicated network file server, providing users with access to shared computing resources in the network, including software programs and data files. The server determines who gets access to what and in which sequence. The router connects the LAN to other networks, which could be the Internet or another corporate network, so that the LAN can exchange information with networks external to it. The most common LAN operating systems are Windows, Linux, and Novell. Each of these network operating systems supports TCP/ IP as its default networking protocol. FIGURE 7-5 Functions of the modem. A modem is a device that translates digital signals from a computer into analog form so that they can be transmitted over analog telephone lines. The modem also translates analog signals back into digital form for the receiving computer.

9 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 209 TABLE 7-1 Types of networks. TYPE Local area network (LAN) Campus area network (CAN) Metropolitan area network (MAN) Wide area network (WAN) AREA Up to 500 metres (half a mile); an office or floor of a building Up to 1000 metres (a mile); a college campus or corporate facility A city or metropolitan area A transborder or global area Ethernet is the dominant LAN standard at the physical network level, specifying the physical medium to carry signals between computers, access control rules, and a standardized set of bits used to carry data over the system. Originally, Ethernet supported a data transfer rate of 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Newer versions, such as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet, support data transfer rates of 100 Mbps and 1 gigabits per second (Gbps), respectively, and are used in network backbones. The LAN illustrated in Figure 7-1 uses a client/ server architecture where the network operating system resides primarily on a single file server, and the server provides much of the control and resources for the network. Alternatively, LANs may use a peer-to-peer architecture. A peer-to-peer network treats all processors equally and is used primarily in small networks with 10 or fewer users. The various computers on the network can exchange data by direct access and can share peripheral devices without going through a separate server. In LANs using the Windows Server family of operating systems, the peer-to-peer architecture is called the workgroup network model in which a small group of computers can share resources, such as files, folders, and printers, over the network without a dedicated server. The Windows domain network model, in contrast, uses a dedicated server to manage the computers in the network. Larger LANs have many clients and multiple servers, with separate servers for specific services, such as storing and managing files and databases (file servers or database servers), managing printers (print servers), storing and managing (mail servers), or storing and managing Web pages (Web servers). Sometimes LANs are described in terms of the way their components are connected together, or their topology. There are three major LAN topologies: star, bus, and ring (see Figure 7-6). In a star topology, all devices on the network connect to a single hub. Figure 7-6 illustrates a simple star topology in which all network traffic flows through the hub. In an extended star network, multiple layers or hubs are organized into a hierarchy. In a bus topology, one station transmits signals, which travel in both directions along a single transmission segment. All of the signals are broadcast in both directions to the entire network. All machines on the network receive the same signals, and software installed on the client s enables each client to listen for messages addressed specifically to it. The bus topology is the most common Ethernet topology. A ring topology connects network components in a closed loop. Messages pass from computer to computer in only one direction around the loop, and only one station at a time may transmit. The ring topology is primarily found in older LANs using Token Ring networking software. Metropolitan and Wide Area Networks Wide area networks (WANs) span broad geographical distances entire regions, states, continents, or the entire globe. The most universal and powerful WAN is the Internet. Computers connect to a WAN through public networks, such as the telephone system or private cable systems, or through leased lines or satellites. A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that spans a metropolitan area, usually a city and its major suburbs. Its geographic scope falls between a WAN and a LAN. Physical Transmission Media Networks use different kinds of physical transmission media, including twisted wire, coaxial cable, fibre optics, and media for wireless transmission. Each has advantages and limitations. Peer-to-peer Topology Star topology Bus topology Ring topology Wide area networks (WANs) Metropolitan area network (MAN)

10 210 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure FIGURE 7-6 Network topologies. The three basic network topologies are the star, bus, and ring. A wide range of speeds is possible for any given medium depending on the software and hardware configuration. Twisted Wire Twisted wire consists of strands of copper wire twisted in pairs and is an older type of transmission medium. Many of the telephone systems in buildings had twisted wires installed for analog communication, but they can be used for digital communication as well. Although an older physical transmission medium, the twisted wires used in today s LANs, such as CAT5, can obtain speeds up to 1 Gbps. Twisted-pair cabling is limited to a maximum recommended run of 100 metres (328 feet). Coaxial Cable Coaxial cable, similar to that used for cable television, consists of thickly insulated copper wire, which can transmit a larger volume of data than twisted wire. Cable was used in early LANs and is still used today for longer (more than 100 metres) runs in large buildings. Coaxial has speeds up to 1 Gbps. Fibre Optics and Optical Networks Fibre optic cable consists of bound strands of clear glass fibre, each the thickness of a human hair. Data are transformed into pulses of light, which are sent through the fibre optic cable by a laser device at rates varying from 500 kilobits to several trillion bits per second in experimental settings. Fibre optic cable is considerably faster, lighter, and more durable than wire media and is well suited to systems requiring transfers of large volumes of data. However, fibre optic cable is more expensive than other physical transmission media and harder to install. Until recently, fibre optic cable had been used primarily for the high-speed network backbone, which handles the major traffic. Now telecommunications companies are starting to bring fibre lines into homes for new types of services, such as ultra-high-speed Internet access (5 to 50 Mbps) and on-demand video. Twisted wire Coaxial cable Fibre optic cable Microwave Wireless Transmission Media Wireless transmission is based on radio signals of various frequencies. Microwave systems, both terrestrial and celestial, transmit high-frequency radio signals through the atmosphere and are widely used for high-volume, long-distance, point-to-point communication. Microwave signals follow a straight line and do not bend with the curvature of the earth. Therefore, long-distance terrestrial transmission systems require that transmission stations be positioned about 60 kilometres apart. Long-distance transmission is also possible by using communication satellites as relay stations for microwave signals transmitted from terrestrial stations. Communication satellites are typically used for transmission in large, geographically dispersed organizations that would be difficult to network using cabling media or terrestrial

11 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 211 FIGURE 7-7 BP s satellite transmission system. Communication satellites help BP transfer seismic data between oil exploration ships and research centres in the United States. microwave. For instance, the global energy company BP p.l.c. uses satellites for real-time data transfer of oil field exploration data gathered from searches of the ocean floor. Using geosynchronous satellites, exploration ships transfer these data to central computing centres in the United States for use by researchers in Houston, Tulsa, and suburban Chicago. Figure 7-7 illustrates how this system works. Cellular systems use radio waves to communicate with radio antennas (towers) placed within adjacent geographic areas called cells. Communications transmitted from a cell phone to a local cell pass from antenna to antenna cell to cell until they reach their final destination. Wireless networks are supplanting traditional wired networks for many applications and creating new applications, services, and business models. In Section 7.4 we provide a detailed description of the applications and technology standards driving the wireless revolution. Transmission Speed The total amount of digital information that can be transmitted through any telecommunications medium is measured in bits per second (bps). One signal change, or cycle, is required to transmit one or several bits; therefore, the transmission capacity of each type of telecommunications medium is a function of its frequency. The number of cycles per second that can be sent through that medium is measured in hertz one hertz is equal to one cycle of the medium. The range of frequencies that can be accommodated on a particular telecommunications channel is called its bandwidth. The bandwidth is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that can be accommodated on a single channel. The greater the range of frequencies, the greater the bandwidth and the greater the channel s transmission capacity. Table 7-2 compares the transmission speeds of the major types of media. Cell phone Hertz Bandwidth TABLE 7-2 Typical speeds and costs of telecommunications transmission media. MEDIUM SPEED Twisted wire Microwave Satellite Coaxial cable Fibre optic cable Up to 1 Gbps Up to 600+ Mbps Up to 600+ Mbps Up to 1 Gbps Up to 6+ Tbps Mbps = megabits per second Gbps = gigabits per second Tbps = terabits per second

12 212 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure 7.3 The Internet, Its Technologies, and How They Work The Global Internet We all use the Internet, and many of us cannot do without it. It has become an indispensable personal and business tool. But what exactly is the Internet? How does it work, and what does Internet technology have to offer for business? Let us look at the most important Internet features. What Is the Internet? The Internet has become the world s most extensive, public communication system that now rivals the global telephone system in reach and range. It is also the world s largest implementation of client/ server computing and internetworking, linking millions of individual networks all over the world. This gigantic network of networks began in the early 1970s as a U.S. Department of Defense network to link scientists and university professors around the world. Most homes and small businesses connect to the Internet by subscribing to an Internet service provider. An Internet service provider (ISP) is a commercial organization with a permanent connection to the Internet that sells temporary connections to retail subscribers. Rogers, Shaw, MTS, SaskTel, and Primus are ISPs. Individuals also connect to the Internet through their business firms, universities, or research centres that have designated Internet domains. There are a variety of services for ISP Internet connections. Connecting via a traditional telephone line and modem, at a speed of 56.6 kilobits per second (Kbps) used to be the most common form of connection worldwide, but it is quickly being replaced by broadband connections. Digital subscriber line (DSL), cable, and satellite Internet connections, and T lines provide these broadband services. Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies operate over existing telephone lines to carry voice, data, and video at transmission rates ranging from 385 Kbps all the way up to 9 Mbps. Cable Internet connections provided by cable television vendors use digital cable coaxial lines to deliver high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses. They can provide high-speed access to the Internet of up to 10 Mbps. In areas where DSL and cable services are unavailable, it is possible to access the Internet via satellite, although some satellite Internet connections have slower upload speeds than these other broadband services. T1 and T3 are international telephone standards for digital communication. They are leased, dedicated lines suitable for businesses or government agencies requiring highspeed guaranteed service levels. T1 lines offer guaranteed delivery at 1.54 Mbps, and T3 lines offer delivery at 45 Mbps. T3 lines cost approximately three times the monthly charge of T1 lines. An organization can also lease a fractional T1 line. Internet service provider (ISP) Digital subscriber line (DSL) Cable Internet connections T1 lines Internet Protocol (IP) address Internet Addressing and Architecture The Internet is based on the TCP/ IP networking protocol suite described earlier in this chapter. Every computer on the Internet is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, which currently is a 32-bit number represented by four strings of numbers ranging from 0 to 255 separated by periods. For instance, the IP address of com is When a user sends a message to another user on the Internet, the message is first decomposed into packets using the TCP protocol. Each packet contains its destination address. The packets are then sent from the client to the network server and from there on to as many other servers as necessary to arrive at a specific computer with a known address. At the destination address, the packets are reassembled into the original message.

13 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 213 The Domain Name System Because it would be incredibly difficult for Internet users to remember strings of 12 numbers, a domain name system (DNS) converts IP addresses to domain names. The domain name is the English-like name that corresponds to the unique 32-bit numeric IP address for each computer connected to the Internet. DNS servers maintain a database containing IP addresses mapped to their corresponding domain names. To access a computer on the Internet, users need only specify its domain name. DNS has a hierarchical structure (see Figure 7-8). At the top of the DNS hierarchy is the root domain. The child domain of the root is called a top-level domain, and the child domain of a top-level domain is called is a second-level domain. Top-level domains are two- and three-character names you are familiar with from surfing the Web, for example,.com,.edu,.gov, and the various country codes such as.ca for Canada or.it for Italy. Second-level domains have two parts, designating a top-level name and a second-level name such as aircanada.ca, queensu.ca, or amazon.ca. A host name at the bottom of the hierarchy designates a specific computer on either the Internet or a private network, such as angel.umanitoba.ca. The most common domain extensions currently available and officially approved are shown in the following list. Countries also have domain names such as.uk,.au, and.fr (United Kingdom, Australia, and France, respectively). In the future, this list will expand to include many more types of organizations and industries..com.edu.gov.mil.net.org.biz.info.name.pro.coop.mus Commercial organizations/ businesses Educational institutions U.S. government agencies U.S. military Network computers Nonprofit organizations and foundations Business firms Information providers Individual named persons Professional organization, such as law firms For cooperative organizations, such as rural electric cooperatives Museums Internet Architecture and Governance Internet data traffic is carried over transcontinental high-speed backbone networks that generally operate today in the range of 45 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps (see Figure 7-9). These trunk lines are typically owned by longdistance telephone companies (called network service providers) or by national governments. Local connection lines are owned by regional telephone and cable television companies that connect retail users in homes and businesses to the Internet. The regional networks lease access to ISPs, private companies, and government institutions. Each organization pays for its own networks and its own local Internet connection services, a part of which is paid to the long-distance trunk line owners. Individual Internet users pay ISPs for using their service, and they generally pay a flat subscription fee, no matter how much or how little they use the Internet. A debate is now raging on whether this arrangement should continue or whether heavy Internet users who download large video and music files should pay more for the bandwidth they consume. The Window on Organizations explores this topic as it examines the pros and cons of network neutrality. No one owns the Internet, and it has no formal management. However, worldwide Internet policies are established by a number of professional organizations and government bodies, including the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), which helps define the overall structure of the Internet; the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which assigns IP addresses; and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and other programming standards for the Web. Domain name system (DNS) Domain name

14 214 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure FIGURE 7-8 The domain name system. The domain name system is a hierarchical system with a root domain, top-level domains, secondlevel domains, and host computers at the third level. edu com. ca org Internet Root Domain net Top-level domains Second-level domains aircanada google pearsoned sales.google.com sales Third-level domains Hosts computer1.sales.google.com Computer1 These organizations influence government agencies, network owners, ISPs, and software developers with the goal of keeping the Internet operating as efficiently as possible. The Internet must also conform to the laws of the sovereign nation-states in which it operates, as well as the technical infrastructures that exist within the nation-states. Although in the early years of the Internet and the Web there was very little legislative or executive interference, this situation is changing as the Internet plays a growing role in the distribution of information and knowledge, including content that some find objectionable. FIGURE 7-9 Internet network architecture. The Internet backbone connects to regional networks, which in turn provide access to Internet service providers, large firms, and government institutions. Network access points (NAPs) and metropolitan area exchanges (MAEs) are hubs where the backbone intersects regional and local networks and where backbone owners connect with one another.

15 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 215 WINDOW ON ORGANIZATIONS Should Network Neutrality Continue? What kind of Internet user are you? Do you primarily use the Net to do a little and look up phone numbers? Or are you online all day, watching YouTube videos, downloading music files, or playing massively multiplayer online games? If you are the latter, you are consuming a great deal of bandwidth, and hundreds of millions of people like you might start to slow down the Internet. YouTube consumed as much bandwidth in 2007 as the entire Internet did in That s one of the arguments being made today for charging Internet users based on the amount of transmission capacity they use. According to one November 2007 report, a research firm projected that user demand for the Internet could outpace network capacity by If this happens, the Internet might not come to a screeching halt, but users would be faced with sluggish download speeds and slow performance of YouTube, Facebook, and other data-heavy services. Other researchers believe that, as digital traffic on the Internet grows, even at a rate of 50 percent per year, the technology for handling all this traffic is advancing at an equally rapid pace. The increased use of massive data downloading has led to an exaflood, a surge of data traffic mostly created by video and other forms of new rich media flowing over the Internet, according to Burt Swanson, who coined the term. The prefix exa refers to 10 to the 18th power, according to Swanson. In addition to these technical issues, the debate about metering Internet use centres around the concept of network neutrality. Network neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers must allow customers equal access to content and applications, regardless of the source or nature of the content. Currently, the Internet is indeed neutral: all Internet traffic is treated equally on a first-come, first-served basis by Internet backbone owners. The Internet is neutral because it was built on phone lines, which are subject to common carriage laws. These laws require phone companies to treat all calls and customers equally. They cannot offer extra benefits to customers willing to pay higher premiums for faster or clearer calls, a model known as tiered service. Now telecommunications and cable companies want to be able to charge differentiated prices based on the amount of bandwidth consumed by content being delivered over the Internet. Today all major ISPs in Canada, as well as several in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and other countries have moved to usage-based pricing. Other ISPs are also tinkering with alternative pricing models. In June 2008, Time Warner Cable started testing metered pricing for its Internet access service in the city of Beaumont, Texas. Under the pilot program, Time Warner charged customers an additional $1 per month for each gigabyte of content they downloaded or sent over the bandwidth limit of their monthly plan. The company reported that 5 percent of its customers had been using half the capacity on its local lines without paying any more than low-usage customers, and that metered pricing was the fairest way to finance necessary investments in its network infrastructure. In addition to metered or usage-based pricing, an ISP can slow the flow of data of peer-to-peer traffic during peak demand hours. This is called traffic shaping, and it is targeted at users who have exceeded their ISP s definition of their fair allotment of bandwidth. These users are known as bandwidth hogs. Bell Canada uses this network management policy. This is not how Internet service has worked traditionally and contradicts the goals of network neutrality. Advocates of net neutrality want the industry to be regulated, requiring network providers to refrain from these types of practices. However, any legislation or even regulation regarding net neutrality is considered unlikely to be passed quickly because of significant resistance by Internet service providers. Internet service providers point to the upsurge in piracy of copyrighted materials over the Internet. Comcast, the secondlargest Internet service provider in the United States, reported that illegal file sharing of copyrighted material was consuming 50 percent of its network capacity. At one point, Comcast slowed down transmission of BitTorrent files, used extensively for piracy and illegal sharing of copyrighted materials, including video. Comcast drew fierce criticism for its handling of BitTorrent packets, and later switched to a platform-agnostic approach. It currently slows down the connection of any customer who uses too much bandwidth during congested periods without singling out the specific services the customer is using. In controlling piracy and prioritizing bandwidth usage on the Internet, Comcast claims to be providing better service for its customers who are using the Web legally. Net neutrality advocates argue that the risk of censorship increases when network operators can selectively block or slow access to certain content. There are already many examples of Internet providers restricting access to sensitive materials (such as anti-bush comments from an online Pearl Jam concert, a textmessaging program from pro-choice group NARAL, or access to competitors like Vonage). In Canada, Telus restricted access to labour union blogs in Pakistan s government blocked access to anti-muslim sites and YouTube as a whole in response to content government officials deemed defamatory to Islam. Proponents of net neutrality also argue that a neutral Internet encourages everyone to innovate without permission from the phone and cable companies or other authorities, and this level playing field has spawned countless new businesses. Allowing unrestricted information flow becomes essential to free markets and democracy as commerce and society increasingly move online. Network owners believe regulation like the bills proposed by net neutrality advocates will impede competitiveness by stifling innovation and hurt customers who will benefit from

16 216 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure discriminatory network practices. North American Internet service lags behind other many other nations in overall speed, cost, and quality of service, adding credibility to the providers arguments. Network neutrality advocates counter that carriers already have too much power due to lack of options for service. Without sufficient competition, the carriers have more freedom to set prices and policies, and customers cannot seek recourse via other options. Carriers can discriminate in favour of their own content. Even broadband users in large metropolitan areas lack many options for service. With enough options for Internet access, net neutrality would not be such a pressing issue. Dissatisfied consumers could simply switch to providers who enforce net neutrality and allow unlimited Internet use. The issue is a long way from resolution. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently conducted a review of the Internet traffic management practices of ISPs. As this chapter is being written, public hearings on Internet traffic management conducted by the CRTC are under way. Even notable Internet personalities disagree, such as the co-inventors of the Internet Protocol, Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. Cerf favours net neutrality, saying that variable access to content would detract from the Internet s continued ability to thrive ( allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success ). Kahn is more cautious, saying that net neutrality removes the incentive for network providers to innovate, provide new capabilities, and upgrade to new technology. Who is right; who is wrong? The debate continues. To Think About 1. What is network neutrality? Why has the Internet operated under net neutrality up to this point in time? 2. Who is in favour of network neutrality? Who s opposed? Why? Where do you stand on this debate? 3. What would be the impact on individual users, businesses, and government if Internet providers switched to a tiered service model? 4. Are you in favour of legislation enforcing network neutrality? Why or why not? MIS in Action 1. Visit the Web site of the Open Internet Coalition, and select five member organizations. Then visit the Web site of each of these organizations, or surf the Web to find out more information about each. Write a short essay explaining why each organization is in favour of network neutrality. 2. Calculate how much bandwidth you consume when using the Internet every day. How many s do you send daily, and what is the size of each? (Your program may have file size information.) How many music and video clips do you download daily, and what is the size of each? If you view YouTube often, surf the Web to find out the size of a typical YouTube file. Add up the number of , audio, and video files you transmit or receive on a typical day. Sources: Josh Stern, Investigating the Exaflood, Convergence Magazine, 2008, /magazines.humber.ca/convergence2008/exaflood.html (accessed April 26, 2009); Kenneth Corbin, Time Warner Cable Broadband Pricing Fight Rages, com/ infra/ print. php/ ; Andy Dornan, Is Your Network Neutral? InformationWeek, May 18, 2008; Rob Preston, Meter Is Starting to Tick on Internet Access Pricing, InformationWeek, June 9, 2008; Damian Kulash, Jr., Beware of the New New Thing, The New York Times, April 5, 2008; Steve Lohr, Video Road Hogs Stir Fear of Internet Traffic Jam, The New York Times, March 13, 2008; Peter Burrows, The FCC, Comcast, and Net Neutrality, BusinessWeek, February 26, 2008; S. Derek Turner, Give Net Neutrality a Chance, BusinessWeek, July 12, 2008; K.C. Jones, Piracy Becomes Focus of Net Neutrality Debate, InformationWeek, May 6, 2008; Jane Spencer, How a System Error in Pakistan Shut YouTube, The Wall Street Journal, February 26, Internet2 CA*net The Future Internet: IPv6 and Internet2 The Internet was not originally designed to handle the transmission of massive quantities of data and billions of users. Because many corporations and governments have been given large blocks of millions of IP addresses to accommodate current and future needs, and because of sheer Internet population growth, the world will run out of available IP addresses using the existing addressing convention by 2012 or Under development is a new version of the IP addressing schema called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which contains 128-bit addresses (2 to the power of 128), or more than a quadrillion possible unique addresses. Internet2 and Next-Generation Internet (NGI) are consortia representing 200 universities, private businesses, and government agencies in the United States that are working on a new, robust, high-bandwidth version of the Internet. They have established several new high-performance backbone networks with bandwidths ranging from 2.5 Gbps to 9.6 Gbps. Internet2 research groups are developing and implementing new technologies for more effective routing practices; different levels of service, depending on the type and importance of the data being transmitted; and advanced applications for distributed computation, virtual laboratories, digital libraries, distributed learning, and tele-immersion. CANARIE is the Canadian equivalent of Internet2. CANARIE has deployed the various versions of CA*net, the national backbone for Canada with one drop per province. CA*net is the foundation

17 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 217 FIGURE 7-10 CA*net4 infrastructure. The CA*net4 infrastructure describes how this advanced Internet infrastructure works, not only across Canada but also with links to the United States. Source: Reprinted with the permission of CANARIE Inc. for innovation infrastructure by interconnecting regional networks, universities, and schools to promote an innovation culture through advanced applications, such as telelearning, grids, and so forth. Today, CA*net has evolved to CA*net4, which is based on optical networking technologies to promote the fastest speeds available over the Internet, primarily for research and education purposes. Figure 7-10 illustrates how this advanced network works. These networks do not replace the public Internet, but they do provide test beds for leading-edge technology that may eventually migrate to the public Internet. Internet Services and Communication Tools The Internet is based on client/ server technology. Individuals using the Internet control what they do through client applications on their computers, such as Web browser software. The data, including messages and Web pages, are stored on servers. A client uses the Internet to request information from a particular Web server on a distant computer, and the server sends the requested information back to the client over the Internet. Chapters 5 and 6 describe how Web servers work with application servers and database servers to access information from an organization s internal information systems applications and their associated databases. Client platforms today include not only PCs and other computers but also cell phones, small handheld digital devices, and other information appliances. Internet Services A client computer connecting to the Internet has access to a variety of services. These services include , electronic discussion groups, chatting and instant messaging, Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and the World Wide Web. Table 7-3 provides a brief description of these services. Each Internet service is implemented by one or more software programs. All of the services may run on a single server computer, or different services may be allocated to different machines. Figure 7-11 illustrates one way that these services might be arranged in a multitiered client/ server architecture. enables messages to be exchanged from computer to computer. Although some organizations operate their own internal electronic mail systems, most today is sent Telnet File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

18 218 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure TABLE 7-3 Major Internet services. CAPABILITY Chatting and instant messaging Newsgroups Telnet File Transfer Protocol (FTP) World Wide Web FUNCTIONS SUPPORTED Person-to-person messaging; document sharing Interactive conversations Discussion groups on electronic bulletin boards Logging on to one computer system and doing work as though the user was working on a distant computer Transferring files from computer to computer Retrieving, formatting, and displaying information (including text, audio, graphics, and video) using hypertext links) Chat Instant messaging FIGURE 7-11 through the Internet. The cost of is far lower than equivalent voice, postal, or overnight delivery costs. Most messages arrive anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. Nearly 90 percent of North American workplaces have employees communicating interactively using chat or instant messaging tools. Chatting enables two or more people who are simultaneously connected to the Internet to hold live, interactive conversations. Chat systems now support voice and video chat as well as written conversations. Many online retail businesses offer chat services on their Web sites to attract visitors, to encourage repeat purchases, and to improve customer service. Instant messaging is a type of chat service that enables participants to create their own private chat channels. The instant messaging system alerts the user whenever someone on his or her private list is online so that the user can initiate a chat session with other individuals. Companies concerned with security use proprietary instant messaging systems such as Lotus Sametime. Newsgroups are worldwide discussion groups posted on Internet electronic bulletin boards on which people share information and ideas on a defined topic, such as radiology or rock bands. Anyone can post messages on these bulletin boards for others to read. Many thousands of groups exist that discuss almost every conceivable topic. Client/ server computing on the Internet. Client computers running Web browser and other software can access an array of services on servers over the Internet. These services may all run on a single server or on multiple specialized servers.

19 Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology 219 FIGURE 7-12 How Voice over IP works. A VoIP phone call digitizes and breaks up a voice message into data packets that may travel along different routes before being reassembled at the final destination. A processor nearest the call s destination, called a gateway, arranges the packets in the proper order and directs them to the telephone number of the receiver or the IP address of the receiving computer. Employee use of , instant messaging, and the Internet is supposed to increase worker productivity, but the accompanying Window on Management shows that this may not always be the case. Many company managers now believe they need to monitor and even regulate their employees online activity. But is this ethical? Although there are some strong business reasons why companies may need to monitor their employees and Web activities, what does this mean for employee privacy? Voice over IP The Internet has also become a popular platform for voice transmission and corporate networking. Voice over IP (VoIP) technology delivers voice information in digital form using packet switching, avoiding the tolls charged by local and long-distance telephone networks (see Figure 7-12). Calls that would ordinarily be transmitted over public telephone networks travel over a corporate network based on the Internet Protocol, or the public Internet. Voice calls can be made and received with a desktop computer equipped with a microphone and speakers or with a VoIP-enabled telephone. Telecommunications service providers (such as Rogers) and cable firms (such as Shaw) provide VoIP services. Skype, acquired by ebay, offers free VoIP worldwide using a peer-to-peer network, and Google has its own free VoIP service. Although there are upfront investments required for an IP phone system, VoIP can reduce communication and network management costs by 20 to 30 percent. For example, VoIP saves Virgin Entertainment Group $700,000 per year in long-distance bills. In addition to lowering long-distance costs and eliminating monthly fees for private lines, an IP network provides a single voice-data infrastructure for both telecommunications and computing services. Companies no longer have to maintain separate networks or provide support services and personnel for each different type of network. Voice over IP (VoIP) WINDOW ON MANAGEMENT Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business? As Internet use has exploded worldwide, so have the use of and the Web for personal business at the workplace. Several management problems have emerged: First, checking , responding to instant messages, or sneaking in a brief YouTube or MySpace video create a series of nonstop interruptions that divert employee attention from the job tasks they are supposed to be performing. According to Basex, a business research company, these distractions take up as much as 28 percent of the average worker s day and result in more than $650 billion in lost productivity each year. Second, these interruptions are not necessarily workrelated. A number of studies have concluded that at least

20 220 Part II Information Technology Infrastructure 25 percent of employee online time is spent on non-workrelated Web surfing, and perhaps as many as 90 percent of employees receive or send personal at work. Many companies have begun monitoring their employees use of , blogs, and the Internet, sometimes without their knowledge. Although companies have the legal right to monitor employee Internet and activity while they are at work, is such monitoring unethical, or is it simply good business? Managers worry about the loss of time and employee productivity when employees are focusing on personal rather than company business. Too much time on personal business, on the Internet or not, can mean lost revenue or overbilled clients because some employees may be charging time they spend trading their personal stocks online or pursuing other personal business to clients. If personal traffic on company networks is too high, it can also clog the company s network so that legitimate business work cannot be performed. BBBank eg of Germany found that a key business driver was to have an overview of the way its employees used the Internet and for what purposes. According to BBBank s Nelson Gonzales, the bank used monitoring software that has helped to reduce costs and produces all the necessary reporting for accountability purposes. The bank can now properly manage its Internet expenditure, resulting in improved cost controls. This includes statistical detail reporting by organization, department, and clients. As a consequence, of the reporting information gathered, the bank has deterred seven cases of inappropriate Internet usage and reduced its bandwidth costs by 15 percent, Gonzales says. When employees use or the Web at employer facilities or with employer equipment, anything they do, including anything illegal, carries the company s name. Therefore, the employer can be traced and held liable. Management in many firms fear that racist, sexually explicit, hate, or other potentially offensive material accessed or traded by their employees could result in adverse publicity and even lawsuits for the firm. Even if the company is found not to be liable, responding to lawsuits could cost the company tens of thousands of dollars. Companies also fear leakage of confidential information and trade secrets through or blogs. Ajax Boiler, based in Santa Ana, California, learned that one of its senior managers was able to access the network of a former employer and read the of that company s human resources manager. The Ajax employee was trying to gather information for a lawsuit against the former employer. Companies that allow employees to use personal accounts at work face legal and regulatory trouble if they do not retain those messages. today is an important source of evidence for lawsuits, and companies are now required to retain all of their messages for longer periods than in the past. Courts do not discriminate about whether s involved in lawsuits were sent via personal or business accounts, and not producing those s could result in a significant fine. Canadian companies have the legal right to monitor what employees are doing with company equipment during business hours. The question is whether electronic surveillance is an appropriate tool for maintaining an efficient and positive workplace. Some companies try to ban all personal activities on corporate networks zero tolerance. Others block employee access to specific Web sites or limit personal time on the Web using software that enables IT departments to track the Web sites employees visit, the amount of time employees spend at these sites, and the files they download. Ajax uses software from SpectorSoft Corporation that records all the Web sites employees visit, time spent at each site, and all s sent. BBBank eg uses WebSpy to categorize and filter Web content and block unwanted video. Some firms have fired employees who have stepped out of bounds. One-third of the companies surveyed in an AMA study had fired workers for misusing the Internet on the job. Among managers who fired employees for Internet misuse, 64 percent did so because the employees contained inappropriate or offensive language, and more than 25 percent fired workers for excessive personal use of . No solution is problem-free, but many consultants believe companies should write corporate policies on employee and Internet use. The policies should include explicit ground rules that state, by position or level, under what circumstances employees can use company facilities for , blogging, or Web surfing. The policies should also inform employees whether these activities are monitored and explain why. The rules should be tailored to specific business needs and organizational cultures. For example, although some companies may exclude all employees from visiting sites that have explicit sexual material, law firm or hospital employees may require access to these sites. Investment firms will need to allow many of their employees access to other investment sites. A company dependent on widespread information sharing, innovation, and independence could very well find that monitoring creates more problems than it solves. To Think About 1. Should managers monitor employee and Internet usage? Why or why not? 2. Describe an effective and Web use policy for a company. MIS in Action Explore the Web site of a company offering online employee monitoring software such as WebSpy, SpectorSoft, or SpyTech NetVizor, and answer the following questions. 1. What employee activities does this software track? What can an employer learn about an employee by using this software? 2. How can businesses benefit from using this software? 3. How would you feel if your employer used this software where you work to monitor what you are doing on the job? Explain your response. Sources: Nancy Gohring, Over 50 Percent of Companies Fire Workers for E- mail, Net Abuse, InfoWorld, February 28, 2008; BBBank eg, com/ resources/ testimonials. aspx (accessed April 26, 2009); Bobby White, The New Workplace Rules: No Video-Watching, The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2008; Maggie Jackson, May We Have Your Attention, Please? BusinessWeek, June 23, 2008; Katherine Wegert, Workers Can Breach Security Knowingly or Not, Dow Jones News Service, June 24, 2007; Andrew Blackman, Foul Sents, The Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2007.

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